While I am absolutely unable to read Tarot for myself using the same intuition I use on others (can a massage artist massage her own back? can a surgeon provide surgery on themselves?) I can use Tarot for areas around self discovery and improvement. I felt that I really needed to create a Vision Board for myself to help me understand what I need to focus on on the upcoming year and the Tarot can help me figure out what it is I need to look at.

Some of the major themes I see here are looking at my new splendid full time job as as self employed Tarot reader. I found myself getting quite emotional and upset when I hit challenges and set backs in a way I never did when I was a salaried person. I think it is because this is my baby and she means so much to me that I have a hard time compartmentalizing myself from my business. 3 of Hearts and Knight of Cups both speak to being too emotional and needing to create balance and discernment which is the thrust of the Justice card.

Strength makes her appearance here and while in many traditional interpretations of this card the focus is on the woman who is taming the lion. I see this card meaning that I need to tame my own inner lion; but the lion is making the choice to be tamed, he chooses to be held by her and he has no chains or bars. Why does he do this? Because he loves her. The thrust of this card is one of determination, love and balance and I need all of these next year in order to be successful and helpful to others. One of my very powerful Guides is a Sphynx and for many of you who have had a reading from me; I call her to help me while I am in sessions. Now that I think about it... I pulled Strength last year in a Tarot workshop in the "what I need to learn category". Very cool!

Ace of Cups directly speaks to my love and passion for this work and how important it is to keep Love front and center for everything I do. Love is different from emotional attachment, especially the pure unfettered universal love displayed by Ace of Cups. 4 of Wands speaks to completing tasks (and not rewriting lists over and over again as I can do!) and 8 of Cups talks of making sacrifices necessary in order to grow, I also see this as taking risks and working on the edge of fear and discomfort when necessary. So thinking about these themes I made a Vision board for myself.

A Vision Board is a collage of pictures, texts and messages I can now post on my wall to help remind me to stay open to the process of growth and to key into the energy represented in the cards.

I apologize for the craptastic quality of image here I am still ironing out some technical kinks of linking systems and was unable to edit this better. That being said, I wanted to share my Vision Board based on the reading from above. To the left I have little sprouts if new growth captioned with, "The Secret Ingredient of Everything" is love. At the top right is a sunflower with my Sphynx in the middle reminding me that I can grow a "Handful of my Hearts desire". It was only after I placed all the sunflowers on the Vision Board did I realize that Sunflowers figure prominently in the Queen of Wands card; she is always holding one, giving me a powerful sun symbol to encourage me and telling me I am on the right track. The bottom left has a Robin which I did not know why but wanted to place there (then realized the Knight of Cups has a bird's wing on his head). Followed by a woman in a suit of armor (like the Knight of Cups I swear to you I only realized the link after I did it!) Captioned with the phrase, "How should I handle people who criticize my lifestyle choices?"

This is a big theme for me lately, the dreaded "So what do you do?" question casually tossed out at parties and when meeting new people. A year ago I could rattle off a silly long title met with the nodding head of approval but now? "I am a professional Tarot card reader." Does not ring so approvingly in many people's ears. I find myself shying away from saying it because I can see that for many it changes how they view me. To some it makes me a charlatan or a con artist or at the very least a flake. I don't own what I do and until I can and beef up my armor so that I say with pride, "I AM a professional Tarot card reader and intuitive so deal!" Not giving one red cent about what skeptics might think then I will continue to struggle with my own cognitive dissonance. At the bottom of the Knight is a passage about creating balance by meditation which I think is the key to finding the balance as a gift from the Justice card.

There is also good stuff in my board relating to risk taking, goal setting and of course it wouldn't feel finished unless a black cat were somehow involved. Again, I did that then realizing that the Queen of Wands always has a black cat with her on the card. While she is the most outgoing and enthusiastic Queen of the deck she is also the only one that has the intuitive side balanced with the bright sun of rationality. Also the woman climbing a mountain looks very similar to the 8 of Cups a person looking like they are about to go on a mountain trek themselves!

I think the important thing about creating the Vision Board from a Tarot spread is to not analyze anything until after you are done. Just start flipping pages and cutting out what you fancy. You will be amazed by how much unconscious work is being done without you even realizing it! In fact that is the strength of both the Tarot and Vision boards, allow your inner self to speak to help your awake self be guided more powerfully.

I encourage you to create your own vision board for 2013 and if you have a Tarot deck please give this project a try! If you do please share your results in the comments section.

Can so relate to your dilemma when people ask what you do for a living! Coming from a teaching background and then years as an HR manager in a corporate, to starting my own yoga studio, together with Reiki, Reflexology and now Tarot--well--! Please let me know how I can sign up to your blog, as I really enjoy your posts. Love and best wishes. Denise

Isn't it interesting how what we may lose in "social cred" we gain in happiness and fulfillment? Check out the "RSS Feed" at the top of the blog under "categories" click it and you will be given options for subscription. Look forward to hearing more about your Tarot journeys!